"Wait…"
Gauss watched her pull out the giant axe and suddenly got a very bad feeling.
While stopping Albena, he quickly looked down again at the little shield in his hand.
To be clear, it wasn't that he didn't trust the water-formed weapon Moterra had gifted him, but…
Objectively speaking, this tiny water shield really didn't look like something that could withstand a man-tall battleaxe, right?
He'd rather not "test it and die."
As for why he'd been fine letting Alia hit it first—well, you treat people according to their threat level.
Even if she broke through the shield, he still had Gauss Omni-Armor and the Moonlight Robe protecting him afterward.
But Albena's close-combat strikes were not something you joked around with.
A Level 6 warrior, wielding a masterwork axe, backed by a touch of giant blood and natural brute strength?
Anyone looking at that would get dizzy.
"Gauss, are you ready?" Albena blinked at him, a little puzzled.
Gauss refreshed his Omni-Armor, double-checked that the Moonlight Robe's defensive layer was intact, then quietly activated Dragon Scales to boost his own physical resilience before finally nodding at her.
"Okay, go ahead—just… be careful."
"Don't worry, Gauss. I'll watch out for the rebound," Albena said confidently.
No, that's not what I meant for you to be careful about…
The next instant, Albena's heel smashed into the ground.
Her massive frame exploded with a speed completely at odds with her size. She leapt high into the air, both hands gripping the axe, bringing it down in a brutal overhead strike aimed at the fragile-looking water shield.
"Boom!!"
This time, the impact was nothing like Alia's staff knock earlier.
A heavy bang detonated, and a violent shockwave exploded out from the point of impact, whipping everyone's clothes into a frenzy.
Alia raised an arm to shield her face from the flying dust.
As for Gauss, all he felt was a terrifying wave of force crashing into him.
Yet once again, the little water shield showed how absurd it really was.
The soft surface of the shield rippled wildly, like boiling water. The blue light within flickered at insane speed, clearly going all out to absorb and diffuse that titanic impact.
A simple round shield barely thirty or forty centimeters across facing off against a man-tall giant axe should have looked hopeless—but if you actually stared at the edge, you would see that biting sharp blade had never managed to penetrate the watery membrane at all.
The two forces fought and ground against each other desperately.
Then—thump!
Both of them were blasted backwards.
Gauss spun mid-air to bleed off the force, landing steadily after a few light steps.
Albena staggered, heavy boots smashing the ground a few times before she managed to arrest her momentum with sheer physical strength.
The previously flat earth was now laced with cracks radiating out in all directions, like the aftermath of a small earthquake.
"…Hoo."
Gauss let out a long breath and looked down at the little water shield in his hand, eyes full of surprise and delight.
Its defensive performance was even better than he'd expected.
Despite being knocked back, he'd hardly taken any real damage. Almost all of Albena's mountain-splitting power had been absorbed and redirected by the shield—his backward flight was just a way to vent the leftover force.
"Gauss, you're amazing," Albena said from the opposite side, putting away her axe and looking at him with heartfelt admiration.
She had held back a fraction of strength, just in case the shield shattered and she needed to pull the blow at the last instant so she wouldn't kill him—but that didn't make her attack any less brutal.
Thanks to her precise control, that strike had still been at least ninety percent of her full power.
And yet she hadn't managed to break that small, soft-looking shield.
It had felt like chopping down into a bottomless lake—her strength diluted and softened until nothing was left.
Then at the end, that softened power had been thrown right back at her.
This water-formed armament was terrifyingly strong.
And strong weapon = strong Gauss.
Gauss simply smiled.
Then the little water shield in his hand began to shift again.
A bow. A dagger. A spear.
And finally, the weapon he used most often in close combat: a sword.
Gauss studied the water-forged blade glinting in the sunlight. It was different from the shield form; the sword radiated a sharp, cutting aura.
Water—softest of all, yet hardest of all.
Gauss swung the blade lightly and flicked it down at the ground.
White Falcon sword-energy surged downwards.
Schfft—
The sword slid into the ground without resistance, carving out a perfectly smooth, clean cut in the earth.
And Gauss got the distinct impression this water weapon wasn't fixed at some single level of strength—it seemed like there might be a way to evolve it further.
A perfect weapon…
Gauss could barely contain his excitement.
He'd resigned himself to the idea that the Lake God ceremony would just be symbolic, and yet this casual gift from Moterra was clearly an incredibly precious treasure.
Now he really did owe her a thorough investigation of that pollution upstream.
Their party continued onward.
On the road, they happened to run into a pack of goblins.
Gauss took the opportunity to test his new "divine weapon" on them.
He quickly discovered that one of the best things about the water weapon was that it never needed cleaning or maintenance—no polishing, no bloodstains, always ready for use.
Made killing goblins much tidier, and saved a lot of cleanup.
Its only real limitation seemed to be its size—it couldn't form a full suit of armor or anything like that.
After cutting down those unlucky goblins by the roadside, his total monster kills climbed to 9,625.
He was getting closer and closer to that 10,000 mark.
In his mind, 10,000 felt like a milestone, and the reward tied to it was probably going to be something big.
…
The first village they came across appeared sooner than Gauss had expected.
It lay tucked inside a dense forest.
At the entrance, a crooked wooden sign had "Herb Village" carved into it in shaky strokes.
Walking in, Gauss felt it looked less like a proper village and more like a slightly oversized camp.
Dozens of small huts half-buried into the forest floor were arranged in rings.
Herbs were hung to dry in front of every door, behind every roof, even above the windows.
The air was thick with mingled scents: sweet, bitter, spicy, fresh—overlapping in strange ways, but not unpleasant. If anything, there was a kind of calming atmosphere to it.
Even a traveler who'd just arrived could guess what kind of work the locals did.
This was a village of herbalists and gatherers.
As Gauss rode in on his chocobo, a few young herb-gatherers with baskets on their backs were heading out along the path, chatting and laughing.
One dark-skinned, wiry girl looked back and caught sight of Gauss on his mount. She stared for a split second, then quickly tugged at her companion's sleeve.
"S-someone's here."
As she warned them, she couldn't help sneaking a few more glances at the man and those behind him.
She had never seen anyone that handsome before.
Light filtering through the trees fell across his white robe, wrapping him in a faint halo. He looked like a hero stepped out of some fairy tale.
Sure, they were supposed to be cautious around strangers—but this man really didn't look like a bad person to an inexperienced girl who'd barely left the woods.
"Um… hello. This is Herb Village. May I ask why you've come?" she asked, voice timid but polite.
"I'm an adventurer traveling from Fisher's Song. Could you take me to see your village chief?" Gauss asked gently as he dismounted.
He mentioned Fisher's Song because it was a town they'd be more likely to recognize—no point saying Grayrock; they would have no idea where that was.
"Oh! Fisher's Song…"
"He looks too good to be a bad guy."
"Yeah, I don't think he's dangerous either…"
The girl and her friends leaned close and whispered among themselves.
Then the dark-skinned "mushroom-head" girl turned back, composed herself, and nodded.
"Adventurer-sirs, please follow us."
Leading their mounts, the party moved deeper into the village.
Every gap between houses was filled with herb plots.
Some adults spotted the girls bringing strangers in and called out from the fields.
"Grey, who did you bring back?"
"Adventurers looking for the chief."
The adults took in Gauss's clothes and presence, opened their mouths as if to object, then closed them again.
They didn't dare say too much.
Someone with that sort of air clearly wasn't ordinary.
And if he did mean trouble… what could a handful of herb gatherers do?
Just then, as Gauss was quietly observing the village—
A wild-looking man with disheveled hair suddenly burst out of a nearby hut.
The girls reflexively tried to block his path.
But he got to Gauss first, staggering up and practically throwing himself at him.
"Sir! Sir! Have you seen my daughter!?"
"She's about this tall… has the same curly golden hair as her mother, big gold eyes, loves kumquat candy, scared of the dark…"
His blackened hands seized Gauss's immaculate robe, babbling incoherently.
Grey and the other girls exchanged looks full of pity and helplessness. Clearly, this scene was all too familiar—they'd seen it many times before.
Every time strangers came to the village, he rushed over and asked the same questions.
They hurriedly pried the man away from Gauss, afraid he might upset their important guest.
"Sorry, adventurer, that's Uncle York…" Grey leaned closer and whispered an explanation. "His little girl Abby went missing some time ago, and he's been like this ever since."
Gauss nodded softly.
"Serandur, could you check on him?"
He glanced at the half-snake healer, wanting to know whether York's trauma could be treated at all.
"He's our party's medic," Gauss added to the villagers. "Let him take a look."
The gathered villagers exchanged glances and nodded.
They didn't hold out much hope—but these adventurers looked extraordinary. Maybe their medic would be better than their own village doctor.
While Serandur worked, an elderly man walked up.
His hair was white, but his eyes were bright and sharp, and he leaned lightly on a polished wooden staff.
"Honored guests, apologies that you had to see that. I'm Hodel, the Chief of Herb Village."
"Pleased to meet you, Chief."
Gauss handed him the commission scroll he'd taken from Sena City.
In most villages, that piece of paper worked like a passport.
The chief skimmed it; when he realized Gauss's party had been traveling from village to village helping with defenses and clearing threats, his posture relaxed.
"But our village doesn't really have anything that needs help," Hodel said, handing the scroll back.
"The defenses look a bit thin," Gauss said, glancing at the almost nonexistent palisade.
"We scatter beast-repelling powders and monster-deterring herbs around the perimeter," Hodel explained, "and keep them refreshed regularly. It's rare for anything to wander in."
"We also have a few sturdy lads who go out and clear any monsters that wander too close."
Every village had its own way of surviving.
For a community that lived off the forest, herbs were both their livelihood and their shield.
And while the place wasn't huge, the regular caravans that came to buy herbs meant they were clearly doing well. That gave them enough coin to outfit some villagers with gear and basic combat skills.
"I see…" Gauss scratched his cheek.
This was the first time he'd run into a village that so bluntly said, "We're fine, thanks."
Still, they were already here.
"Would you be willing to let my team camp here for a few days?" he asked. "We'd like to rest up a bit."
For monsters, any cluster of humans was an attractive target.
Herb powders could drive them back, but not kill them.
That meant the monster density in the area was still higher than the wilds.
He was fewer than 400 kills away from 10,000; he wasn't about to pass up a promising hunting ground.
"Of course, Sir Gauss," Hodel replied without hesitation.
He might not need Gauss's help, but refusing a harmless request like this would be foolish.
While Gauss spoke to the chief, Serandur finished his exam of York.
"This is indeed severe mental trauma," Serandur said, shaking his head.
The brain was the most delicate organ; if it had been something else, he might have been able to fully heal it. But when the mind itself was damaged, things became much trickier.
"He's wound far too tight. He hasn't had real sleep in a long time. I've eased that for now."
"Let him sleep for a while. When he wakes, I'll examine him again."
He handed the now-dozing York into the arms of two villagers, who carefully supported him back toward his hut.
Gauss watched him go, eyes narrowing slightly, gaze thoughtful.
"What's wrong?" Alia asked, noticing where he was looking.
"…Nothing," Gauss said, pulling his eyes away and letting the matter drop—for now.